Imaging the internal regions of the eye is important for both clinical diagnostic and treatment purposes as well as for scientific research. Diagnosis of a number of clinical conditions (e.g., diabetic retinopathy (DR), hypertensive retinopathy (HR), age related macular degeneration (AMD), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), retinal detachment, glaucoma, cataract, and various types of neovascularization pathologies in the choroid (CNV), cornea and retina) relies on imaging appropriately the retina, choroid, the cornea, the sclera, or the eye lens, including imaging specific aspects of each of these tissues (e.g., blood, blood vessels, exudates, and other anatomical and physiological features). A number of these pathophysiologies are gradual—that is, these disorders develop over time-making a strong case for timely diagnosis and management. For example, unmanaged diabetes and DR leads to proliferation of blood vessels in the retina, blood leakage into the eye and eventually, loss of vision. Thus, not only does retinal imaging have a role in detecting the evidence of a pathophysiology, but also in diagnosing its severity. Early diagnosis through routine monitoring is important in disease management and, hence, eye screening is becoming an increasingly important aspect in primary care.
In addition to these ophthalmic diseases, imaging of the blood vessels of ophthalmic tissue can be used to detect non-ophthalmic diseases or conditions. These non-ophthalmic disease or conditions can be organ-specific or systemic. For example, reports in literature have also indicated that early signs of brain disorders are also manifested in the retina. Thus, imaging the retina can be used for early diagnosis or risk assessment of conditions like stroke and other types of brain lesions. Similarly, systemic disease (e.g., heart disease or diabetes) can be diagnosed and monitored based on an evaluation of the retinal blood vessels.